InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "No, now!"

Zach Kitano (coalintodiamond) wrote in nosuchplace,
@ 2009-07-10 20:16:00

Entry tags:

elijah clément, zach kitano

Saturday: February 2, 2008
Who: Zach and Elijah
When: Afternoon
Where: The Alchemy Labs
What: Elijah is helping Zach prepare for the binding ceremony.

As much as Zach didn’t mind the ability to turn lead into gold, he wasn’t all that thrilled about the finer aspects of alchemy. He had known since he had picked up his first book on alchemy that there were more complicated rites when it came to creating higher substances, messing with elementals, and even producing the infamous carmot. What he didn’t, though, was just how boring those processes really were. He was crouched over the floor of one of the rooms in the alchemy lab specifically built for the practice of elemental summoning and binding, drawing what was the beginning of an alchemy circle with a piece of chalk in his hand.

It was not Zach’s idea of a picnic.

Alchemy circles, or transmutation circles, were hard pieces of work to create. Zach was lucky he had a mild finesse with drawing or he wouldn’t have been able to make one at all. He had to start from the center of the circle and work his way out, which was the hardest part of all. Zach always preferred to start outward and work his way in, but unless he wanted to smear the circle he had to do it this way. The bending put a crick in his neck and his back ached from the position.

Worst of all, his hands were sweating inside of the gloves he had to wear to keep his hands clean of chalk. The discomfort added onto the list of reasons why Zach didn’t want to be doing this right now, but his grandmother said he had to know how to do an alchemy circle or they would never get to the actual binding because she wasn’t drawing it for him. Constance was more than adamant about Zach learning a thing or two, but then again, it was nothing new out of his grandmother.

Zach fell back on his heels, looking up at Elijah. “Can we stop for today?” Zach asked. “I seriously need a break.” He wiped a hand across his forehead, coming away with droplets of sweat on the back of his hand. It shouldn’t have been this hot in the room, but maybe it was all of the concentration causing him to sweat like a pig. Zach wasn't very good with stress.

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priceoffreedom
2009-07-11 04:58 am UTC (link)

Elijah watched closely as Zach drew the transmutation circle on the chalkboard-like floor. The boy had been left under his watchful eye; an "alchemic tutor" of sorts since Elijah was well-versed in all things alchemy. Though he did not have the power to produce results, he knew every ritualistic procedure and he knew how to execute them perfectly. Besides, Constance was not allowed to leave her house with Adam under house arrest. Elijah didn't mind spending time with Zach though, and being in the presence of an alchemist brought the elemental a sense of peace that he hadn't felt since Aubert's death.

Elijah walked around Zach and his transmutation circle, examining the drawings and the figures that were being marked on the special floor. The young boy was doing quite well despite the fact that drawing the special circles required quite a bit of time and precision. The transference ritual was actually quite simple, but the preparation for the ritual itself was quite complicated. One incorrectly drawn symbol could throw off the entire ceremony.

"You need to redraw your symbol for earth," Elijah said calmly. "And you've used the wrong symbol for copper. Because Adam is an earth elemental you have to use the one with three points." He knelt down next to Zach, and smiled at the boy. "Other than good, you're making good progress." He patted Zach on the back in an encouraging manner. "We'll take a ten minute break," he said as he stood up. He moved to open a window to let some cool air into the room. He knew that it could get stuffy for the alchemist since it took so much concentration to draw.

Elijah picked up a glass, and then filled it with cold water that he had created. He handed it over to Zach. "Here," he said. "I know you're thirsty."

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coalintodiamond
2009-07-14 09:00 am UTC (link)

Zach felt a sigh escaping his lungs as Elijah told him he needed to correct something he had drawn with the chalk. It was bad enough it was chalk. How was he supposed to redraw it? Chalk wasn’t completely erasable, but Zach supposed this was trial and error and the floor would be cleaned afterwards. It wasn’t like they were actually going to use this room for a ritual today, so Zach guessed he didn’t need to worry about the little details like that. There wasn’t a whole lot of sense to it.

The pat on the back felt a little childish to Zach, but he refrained from saying anything about it. Occasionally, he remembered Elijah was much older than even his grandmother. Elijah didn’t look it, but the elemental had a fair share of years under his belt. The man was going to treat him a specific way. It wasn’t disrespectful. It was just not behavior Zach was used to.

He scrubbed at the incorrect symbols and blew away the chalk dust. Leaning down once more, he carefully made the markings of the symbol for earth. When that one was finished, Zach worked as diligently as possible on the symbol for copper. He wasn’t familiar with the copper symbol, so that one was easy to mess up. As for the earth symbol, Zach mentally kicked himself. He should have known that one.

Once he finished the symbols, Zach sat back on his heels and dropped the chalk. A ten minute break sounded really good right about now. “I like the sound of that,” Zach said, pushing to his feet. He wiped the chalk marks off his pants as best as he could, which wasn’t much. His pants were black.

The younger man glanced over at Elijah as the elemental filled the glass with water he created. Zach chewed on his lip and looked skeptically at the water. “You know it’s strange when you do that,” Zach told him, accepting the water anyway. He stared at it like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to drink it, though. “I’m thirsty, but it’s kind of weirds me out to drink water that came out of your hand.”

Zach stared for a little bit longer before giving up and tilting his head back, downing the water in a few quick gulps.

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priceoffreedom
2009-07-15 03:49 am UTC (link)

Elijah hadn't meant to make Zach feel like a child, but compared to him the alchemist was very young, and in many ways the elemental treated him as an uncle would a nephew. There was a sense of pride that Elijah felt when he watched Zach working on alchemy. It was a rare thing for him to see a young alchemist still in the process of learning some of the more technical aspects of the power. The pat on the back though a bit demeaning to Zach was Elijah's way of showing encouragement, and that he actually liked him.

He laughed at Zach's comment about the water, and shook his head. "It didn't come out of my hand," he corrected. "I just collected it from the air. Did a little of this, a little of that to make it clean. Cooled it down a bit, and then directed it to the glass. All that in one fell swoop." He held his hand in front of him with the palm facing up, and then using his powers he formed a ball of water. It seemed to grow before their eyes starting as a small dot, and slowly collected more molecules from the air to grow in size.

"Water is all around us," Elijah explained. "As an elemental I'm in tune with it, and I command it as I please." He changed the ball of water into an cube of ice that rested in his palm. "I can control all of its possible states of existence, but that is all the control I have. But as an alchemist you are familiar with the structure of the physical world, and you have power over it. To change it from one form to another. You have the power to bind we elementals to physical bodies." He smiled a bit dreamily, and then made the cube in his hand dissipate into the air once more.

"It's an amazing thing, and don't you forget that," he said pointedly to Zach. He didn't want the young man to ever take his gift for granted.

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coalintodiamond
2009-07-16 10:20 pm UTC (link)

Strange physical appearances were the easy differences for Zach to accept, but he had to admit that even he still had some trouble with some of the magical abilities he witnessed in others. He hadn’t know just what elementals could do until he discovered what his uncle really was, and Zach didn’t know that until shortly before coming to Elysium. It was almost as if the deeper he dug, the more surprises he found in his family. Then again, up until a year ago, Zach thought the only weird thing out there was alchemists. Boy, was he wrong.

“Yeah, uh-huh,” Zach said nonchalantly. “You cleaned it.” He gave Elijah a skeptical look, but he was clearing playing around with the guy. If he didn’t believe it, then he wouldn’t have drunken it. His eyes were a bit mesmerized by the display of water transformation in Elijah’s hand. The ball of water turned into a square ice cube all of a sudden, and Zach couldn’t help but feel impressed. “Hey, at least you’ll always have something to drink in the desert,” he mentioned aloud.

Zach sighed and looked back at the floor and the partially drawn alchemy circle. “Well, my grandmother can do it. I’m not quite there yet.” Zach never really wanted to make an elemental. He wasn’t ready to create life and be responsible for it. It felt a lot like having a kid; you just didn’t do it until you were ready. Zach turned to look at Elijah, a half-smirk on his face. “Making elementals are like having babies, and I’m not ready to be a parent,” he joked.

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priceoffreedom
2009-07-17 12:12 am UTC (link)

Despite Elijah's age the elemental still found himself surprised by some of the other praeternaturals in the haven. He had read about them, and even heard about them before, but he and Aubert had kept to themselves so much that Elijah hadn't met any of the other species. He thought it was fascinating to actually see some of the others in person, but the expression on his face didn't reveal that wonderment.

Elijah could take Zach's teasing easily. It brought a rare smile to his face, and he arched a brow at the boy. "Well I only told you that so you'd drink it," he joked in return. "But you haven't fallen over dead yet so I guess it wasn't that contaminated." Elijah wouldn't dream of giving Zach something unclean. He held a fondness for the young alchemist, and a very strong sense of protection for him.

"Making babies is a lot more fun than making elementals," Elijah said with a smirk. "Though I'm sure you already realize that with that hot girlfriend you have." He chuckled though he secretly hoped Zach didn't mind the comment he made. Elijah had to admit that he was pleased with Zach's answer. So many alchemists created elementals simply because they had the power to do so. They wanted to test their limits; take that next logical step in the growth of their powers. Rarely did the alchemists take care of their elementals the way parents took care of children. Most elementals were treated as slaves, or experiments; and whenever the alchemist grew tired of them they would destroy the body and release the elemental back to the world.

"That's a very good way to think," he said. "Most elementals are nothing but things to many alchemists. There are exceptions to this, like your grandmother, but they are few and far between." He paused, and leaned against the wall. "We are created to do the bidding of our alchemist," Elijah further explained. "And if we're lucky our alchemist becomes our family, and not just our keeper."

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coalintodiamond
2009-07-28 12:03 am UTC (link)

Zach spewed out some of the water in his mouth, quickly bringing up a sleeve to wipe away the drops of water on his chin. He aimed a look at Elijah that said he wasn’t in the least bit amused about drinking dirty water, but he didn’t fall over dead yet, so it couldn’t have been that bad. “You’re a cruel person,” Zach stated nonchalantly, setting the glass aside on a nearby table. It was a small corner piece, not a large table for studying.

Had he still been drinking the water, he would have spewed out more upon hearing Elijah talk about making babies and it being fun. It was the last thing Zach wanted to hear from an older man not quite his peer. Elijah was supposed to be one of his teachers, and Zach did not like to think about his teachers having sex of all things. Teachers were asexual beings, and he preferred that they stay that way. Anything else was just torture for his poor teenage mind.

Adrienne was a soft button for Zach, though, and he ended up pointing a finger at Elijah. “Hey,” he said loudly, temporarily raising his voice for that one word to get Elijah’s attention. “Don’t talk about Adrienne that way.” Zach didn’t like hearing other people sexualizing her. After all, she was his girlfriend. Zach tended to get just a little overprotective of Adrienne and her image. “She’s my hot girlfriend to me. To you, she’s my adorable girlfriend with pinchable cheeks — and by that, I mean her face.” He knew if he didn’t make a save with that last sentence Elijah would have found a way to joke about her butt.

Adam was family for his grandmother and him, and it hadn’t really crossed Zach’s mind that an elemental could, or would, be treated like a thing. It sobered him up. “It’s kind of weird thinking of a person like a thing. Elementals are still people. Why would alchemists think they could own them?” Zach never knew many alchemists, but the thought was disheartening. He wondered if he ever would have liked any he could have met.

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priceoffreedom
2009-07-31 12:07 am UTC (link)

Elijah might've been old, but he wasn't dead, and his mind with all of its knowledge still had a tendency to revert back to that of a teenager. He talked about sex easily since he saw it as a natural act between two people, but with so many people afraid to talk about it in the open Elijah used sex as a way to tease. And it was so easy with Zach.

He chuckled, clearly amused, when Zach defended Adrienne. The girlfriend was a soft spot for the alchemist, and his natural response to such a fact was to poke at it more. But this was Zach, and he was fond of him so he made a mental note not to mention the girlfriend in what Zach considered a disrespectful way. Elijah held his hand in front of him, palms forward in a defensive pose. "All right, all right," he said with a grin. "I give. No more talking about Adrienne like that." He hadn't witnessed genuine love between two people in a long time until he had seen Zach with Adrienne. It wasn't some sort of teenage romance that was filled with nothing but hormones. It was real, and it was something that renewed Elijah's faith in love.

The conversation became serious once more, and Elijah sighed deeply before he could answer Zach. "Why would they think they own us?" The answer was clear as day to the elemental, but Zach wasn't jaded like he was. "Because they made us, Zach," he said finally. "They had power over our very lives. Not every alchemist is like you, your grandmother. Hell, even Aubert did his fair share of creating, and destroying elementals before he settled with me and the idea of family entered into that brain of his. Maybe things are different now, but I think the idea of controlling life really gives some alchemists a power trip."

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coalintodiamond
2009-08-05 07:32 am UTC (link)

“Good,” Zach said with a nod of his head. He pointed at Elijah and gave him a solemn look. “As long as you remember that one rule, you and I can be friends . . . or mentor and student or whatever.” It wasn’t that Zach didn’t mind people poking fun at him or Adrienne, but he was still sensitive (and might always be) to the idea of other people thinking Adrienne was hot. Insecurity was one of Zach’s strong suits, and knowing that a lot of people found his girlfriend hot tended to bother him. It reminded him how easily he could lose her to someone else or how easily she could find somebody else if they ever broke up.

Zach didn’t like thinking about those things, so it made him a little defensive whenever the topic was brought up.

He moved to take a seat, glancing over at Elijah as the man talked about elementals and alchemists. It made him frown to hear that about alchemists, and Zach was really starting to think he’d never like very many of them. Well, hopefully there were exceptions to the rule. If he and his grandmother were exceptions, there had to be others. “Well, my mother and father created me, but you don’t see them waving around the ‘I own you’ flag.” Zach paused for a moment. “Scratch that. They did up until I was eighteen, and my father still does it period, but they’ve raised me like parents should raise their children — protect them, not hurt them. That’s what all parents should do, and that’s what an alchemist is — a parent to any elemental they create. You can’t just . . . toy with their lives. They're living beings.”

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priceoffreedom
2009-08-13 02:34 am UTC (link)

The thought of being Zach's mentor brought a smile to Elijah's face. He was an elemental free from an alchemist's grasp, and yet there was a part of him that longed for that sort of connection again. To work long, tireless hours researching the various alchemic principles until an answer was found was something that Elijah missed. Maybe he had spent far too long without companionship of any kind that the moments he had with the young alchemist were bringing up old memories, and wants.

He made a mental note not to speak badly of Adrienne. There were other things he could tease Zach about if he wanted, but that was for another time. Now they had to continue with his training especially if he was to be ready for the ritual his grandmother wanted him to participate in. Zach would no doubt take good care of the elemental when that time came, but it was a huge responsibility that did put him in charge of another life.

"Like I said not all alchemists are the same," he answered finally. "Some like to treat their elementals like equals, or love them as their own kids, but others don't. That's just the way it is." Elijah shrugged as if there was nothing he could do to change it, and he really couldn't even if he wanted to. How another alchemist treated their elemental was up to that alchemist, and no one else. "I guess you can look at it this way - parents have kids because they love each other, and that kid is the product of that love. Alchemists don't bind elementals out of love. They go through the ritual because they can, because it's the next logical step in the evolution of their powers. And if it doesn't turn out right the first time then they did it again and again until it did." Elijah shrugged again, and shook his head. It was just the way things worked in the world, and Zach was lucky that he never had to experience that for himself.

He stepped forward to Zach, and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "Not all alchemists are like that so don't worry. So, you ready to get back to work or did you want to stop for today?"

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coalintodiamond
2009-08-14 02:20 am UTC (link)

Zach made a face as Elijah explained the difference between parents and alchemists. “Sounds depressing,” Zach said, but then he shrugged and pushed it out of his mind. It was apt for the conversation since they were talking about elementals and alchemists, but Zach figured they’d talked out all there was to know about the subject. It was like a science experiment for some people, and that was something Zach could understand. A part of him, for one brief second, was afraid of what he would do if he ever lost touch with reality — or his emotions. Would he just create an elemental and toy with it?

He decided he never wanted to know the answer to that question.

“We can still work,” Zach announced, looking over at Elijah. He cocked his head to the side and lightly smiled, raising his eyebrows. “The day is young, as they say,” he told the older man. It caused Zach to backtrack for a moment and think about what he had just said. “God, I sound old.” Zach shook his head and grabbed for a piece of chalk, taking a seat on the floor and readying his hand for the next symbol. “So, what’s next, Big Poppa?”

Zach turned his head to grin at Elijah, snickering at his ridiculous ‘nickname’ for the elemental.

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Fin.

priceoffreedom
2009-08-20 01:07 am UTC (link)

The talk of alchemists and elementals was depressing even for an elemental with a fairly happy history, but it wasn't something that he was afraid to talk about. Zach would have to learn about it sooner or later, and since they were on the topic it seemed like an appropriate time to address it. Though Zach was scared to turn out like some of the horror stories Elijah was fairly certain that the young man wouldn't. He had a pretty good head on his shoulders, and he had Constance. Constance would keep him grounded for as long as she was around.

He smiled when Zach was ready to work again, and he watched the young man ready himself for the next symbol. The elemental laughed at the boy's comment, and shook his head. "You're nineteen," he said pointedly. "You are far from old, or even feeling old, or even sounding old." He laughed a little bit more, and sighed a little. "When you're my age then you can say you're old," he said. "But not until then."

Elijah was having a good time with Zach, but nothing was as amusing as the moment Zach called him 'Big Poppa.' Elijah arched a brow, and looked at Zach incredulously. "Big Poppa? Well okay then, Small Fry, start finishing up the symbols for sulphur, mercury, and then two more earth." He smiled at Zach, and crossed his arms over his chest as the alchemist got to work. The day was still young, but he had a feeling that time would fly just so long as he and Zach kept with their fun banter.

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